The American Human: A Cogent Argument for Same-Sex Marriage

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Cogent Argument for Same-Sex Marriage

Kennedy has ruled in favor of sex being private,
for gays or straights. He doesn't have to say it again.

Sonya West of Slate has a very nifty view of how Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy could rule in favor of same-sex marriage without getting into the sticky wicket of sex. It's not about sex, it's about gender. I like it.

The gender-discrimination argument is not complicated. Imagine Alice applies for a license to marry Charlie and it is granted. Yet if Bob applied for a license to marry Charlie, he would be denied. The crucial difference between Alice and Bob is, of course, their gender—not their sexual orientation. In fact, as we all know, homosexuals have long been free to marry members of the opposite sex. Thus, Kennedy is wrestling with the possibility that Bob is being discriminated against because he is a man and not because he is gay. And, if so, should the court apply the same level of heightened protection it traditionally applies whenever the government treats men and women differently?

No one says anybody who is married has to have sex (though that's somewhat the case in other countries where women are not allowed to say "no"). Also, a standard justification for having a marriage annulled is non-consummation, as in not having sex or being unwilling or unable to have sex. There is, however, no requirement that a couple have sex in order to stay married.

Sex doesn't have to be the issue.

So, the real, legal phrase is better stated as a same-gender marriage, and that smacks of gender discrimination, icky sex notwithstanding.

Anthony Kennedy should and can go this way. What people do inside of marriage, sex-wise, is private.

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My General Principles

1. Civilized societies require the rule of law.
2. Science is my preferred method for examining and understanding reality.
3. Religion is superstition.
4. An educated society is a healthy society.
5. Democratic governments are by their very nature socialist.
6. Market economies are by their very nature capitalist.
7. Markets are not (entirely) efficient or rational and thus require regulation.
8. Don’t confuse politics with public policy.
9. Civil discourse requires rational argument, even if yelling or stomping your feet or name-calling is more fun.
10. If you consider making stuff up a viable tactic, you are disallowed from civil discourse.
11. Puritanism is America’s original sin.
12. Income redistribution is good for society, hoarding is not.
13. Everybody, from time to time, needs help.

About the American Human

The American Human is written by Calvin Ross, a retired teacher who at various points in life has been a musician, woodworker, restaurateur, narrator, English teacher in Japan, novelist, technology journalist, and private tutor to Japanese children here in the U.S.

Happily residing in the wine country of Sonoma County north of San Francisco, Calvin has lived in the Philippines, the Netherlands, and the aforementioned Japan, as well as in Chicago, Colorado, Georgia, and many different towns in California, including, of all places, the Mojave Desert.

Calvin, you may note quickly, is a liberal progressive who doesn't think being called a socialist is all that bad, especially since he sort of would like living in Denmark if it weren't so cold. He blogs because he can.